Scavenger Hunt
by Arabian Princess
Summary: Relena and Dorothy compete for a day at an exclusive spa and drag along Heero and Quatre.
1. Mix Up at the Spa

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gundam Wing. This fan fiction has no commercial value, and I am not making any kind of profit or income off of this story or the use of characters owned by Sunrise and Bandai.

Mix Up at the Spa

No one ever said maintaining peace and stability would be easy, and they knew that, but no one had informed the youths that it would be riddled with meetings and conferences either. It was at one of these conferences that brought five of them together. Relena Darlian was there as part of the government, Dorothy Catalonia attended to report as a member of Romefeller (of which many of the members were under strict surveillance), Quatre Raberba Winner was at the conference as one of the representatives for the colonies, Sylvia Noventa was there representing her family—this event was held in honor of her grandfather—and Heero Yuy only came as a bodyguard for Relena.

Being friends, they all had lunch together at the cafeteria. However, on this day, it was not a peaceful meal. Relena and Dorothy had made appointments at a very exclusive spa. Only one slot was open. Two different women took their appointments, and it seemed one had to be dropped. The spa did not want to insult either woman, so they, having good faith the girls could work it out between themselves, left the decision up to Relena and Dorothy. The one who conceded would have to wait three more months to attend the spa.

"Dorothy, that day is mine! I need it more than you!" Relena insisted.

"You'll just waste it! You'll take calls and work through the whole thing," Dorothy persisted. Heero, as a rule, stayed out of other people's arguments—especially when those people were both female. Quatre had tried to smooth things out between them, but there was no compromise to be had, and he had given up. Sylvia had kept her mouth shut, for she had a slot in the spa. Instead of interrupting the fight, she was scribbling something on a sheet of paper.

"I need a spa day!" Relena shouted.

"Well, I called first!" Dorothy returned.

"We called at the same time."

Dorothy quickly produced a sheet of paper and handed it to her friend. Relena inspected it and snorted. "Okay, so you called five seconds before I did."

"Ergo, the day is mine." Dorothy wore a superior smirk.

"I'm the Vice Foreign Minister—I'm Relena Peacecraft!" she blurted out before she could stop herself.

A delighted smile crossed Dorothy's face. "Oh? So, you feel you are better than the rest of us?"

Relena's face flushed. "That is not what I meant, and you know it!"

Before she could dig herself in a deeper hole, Quatre spoke up. "If you two can't compromise, surely there is a better way to pick who goes instead of this bickering." Both women shot him a dirty look, but they relented.

"Rock-paper-scissors—best of five," Relena was quick to offer.

Dorothy rolled her eyes. "Are we seven? Let's have a fencing match."

"Is that your answer to everything?"

"It serves its purpose."

"Yeah, because you always win."

Dorothy opened her mouth to retort, but Sylvia cut her off. "Scavenger hunt. How about you two have a scavenger hunt to decide?" The girls exchanged stubborn looks.

"Who'll make up the list?" Dorothy questioned.

"It'll have to be a neutral, outside party," Relena answered.

"Done!" reported Sylvia excitedly. She left to make a few copies of the list and quickly returned, handing both a list.

"How many things are on here?" Relena gasped as her eyes scanned the list.

"I think fourteen," Sylvia responded.

"But, a couple of them require us to go to multiple people, so there's really…nineteen things," Dorothy calculated.

"You do have two weeks to get everything," Sylvia pointed out.

"Let's make something clear. You can't go to one of Une's gardens, though," Dorothy objected. "They're not the same."

"What if she made the garden under Treize's orders?" Relena inquired.

"That would work," Sylvia consented. "However, only under his direct orders—she can't have made it as a memorial or something for him."

"And it can be any crown?" Relena asked.

Sylvia nodded. "You don't have to grab it either, just get a picture taken if that's all you can get. Oh, and also, don't go to a chain café. Go to one that's only on L-3 so I can verify it."

"I suppose Heero and I can do it easily enough," Relena decided.

"You can't have someone help you!" Dorothy objected.

"Heero's my bodyguard. He has to come—whether I want him to or not."

"Then I get Quatre!"

"What?" Quatre's eyes widened. "I'm not going with you on a stupid—"

Dorothy grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him so that their faces were mere centimeters apart; he had no choice but to look into her eyes. "You start vacation tomorrow. You have no plans. I have to go on this 'stupid' scavenger hunt, and I need a partner who'll fill in the gaps of what I don't know. Now, I **need** that spa day—see how tense I am? You be my partner or else."

"Or else what?" Quatre dared in a low, strong tone.

"We're at lunch with many sharp objects. _That_ seems like a good start."

Quatre considered this. The scavenger hunt _did_ sound like a fun way to spend his vacation, and as long as he kept a good sense of humor, Dorothy could provide lots of fun. He pretended to mull over the idea, for he could not let Dorothy think she could bully him into anything her heart desired.

"I'll do it as long as it's fun. Once it's not fun for me, I'm leaving."

"Wonderful!" Sylvia exclaimed. "I kind of figured you'd go with her and Heero with Relena, so I put items on the list involving you two." She handed the boys copies of the list.

* * *

Scavenger Hunt List

– ­­A kiss with a junior senator

– Rose from Treize's gardens

– Something from the president's desk with his name on it

– Picture of Zechs naked

– Get a crown (any)

– Picture of your companion in only a string of your mother's pearls

– A possession of each Gundam pilot

– Something from **two** Gundams

– Ride a horse in American West wearing cowboy outfits (and the guys too)

– Get the high score on a convenient store arcade game

– Have tea in an L-3 Colony café

– Try on a wedding dress at a chic L-4 store

– Buy souvenir on Moon

– Get a picture from Mars

* * *

"A picture of Zechs naked?" asked Quatre, disbelievingly, "A picture of me and Heero wearing only pearls?" 

"Our personal possessions? …A piece of our Gundams?" Heero nearly shouted.

"I had to make it two when I realized your partners piloted Gundams themselves, and that would be too easy." Sylvia took a moment to gaze at their expressions. "Now, no cheating! Heero, Quatre, I leave it up to you two to keep them honest!" The boys nodded.

"What's in it for us?" Quatre questioned. "The girls win their day at the spa, but what do Heero and I get for these two weeks we'll never get back?"

"I'll make it worth Heero's while," Relena purred. Heero smirked.

Quatre looked at Dorothy. "Please, don't make it worth my while." She shoved him playfully.

"I'll think of a prize for you guys. I'll call you once I do," Sylvia assured.

"When do our two weeks start?"

"Let's see, today's the tenth, so you start tomorrow until the twenty-fourth and report at the spa on the twenty-fifth for inspection."

"Inspection?" asked Relena.

"Document everything with a camera and bring back as many items as you can."

"No starting until tomorrow," Quatre warned as he stood from the table. "We have to finish the conference now." The others noticed the time and left with him.

* * *

"Now, what should our strategy be?" Dorothy asked during a later break in the conference as they stood outside with the smokers. "We could get the easy ones out of the way to leave a lot of time for the harder ones. On the other hand, we could do the hard ones right now and get them out of the way so that we can get the easy ones at the end." 

"I have a better strategy," Quatre said. He waved the smoke away with his hand. "Do you know how bad those things are? I don't see how you can smoke with all the information out there."

Dorothy rolled her eyes. "Just tell me what your strategy is."

"We shouldn't concentrate on hardness or easiness. Running from place to place will take up more time. Instead, we should start at the item of farthest distance from the spa and work our way closer. Then, we'll be closest to the spa at the end and won't have to make a long journey and risk losing."

She grinned gleefully and tossed the cigarette away. "I knew there was a reason I needed you with me."

* * *

"How should we do it?" Relena asked Heero as they had dinner after the conference. 

"Any ideas of your own?" asked Heero.

"Well, I should take care of the ones I can do really easily here. Then we should do the hard ones. That way, we can just do the easy ones really quickly."

He nodded. "That's how I would do it. You sure you won't get called away during this? I don't think Dorothy will be too sympathetic to your plight."

"I've thought of that already!" she smiled. "I'm officially on vacation, but if something should come up, we'll just get the items in that area. We won't stick to doing all the hard ones and then easy ones that strictly. Of course, we'll have to be flexible."

"We'll win."

"Naturally we will. But…how are you so confident?"

"I always win."

* * *

Sylvia sipped her drink and smiled at her two partners in crime. "Let the games begin." 


	2. Bickering Brings Us Closer

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gundam Wing. This fan fiction has no commercial value, and I am not making any kind of profit or income off of this story or the use of characters owned by Sunrise and Bandai.

Bickering Brings Us Closer

Day 1—Morning  
Heero walked through the suite, double-checking to make sure they did not forget anything. Time was of the essence in a challenge such as this, and he did not want to waste any of it by having to return. Relena was quickly doing last minute work on her laptop, but she assured him she had packed everything before they had eaten. A few scraps of breakfast remained; he picked the crust of a former piece of toast and munched on it while he finished his preemptive search of lost items. He looked under beds, in drawers, and behind dressers. He tried to search in any feasible place where their belongings could be, even if he knew they did not put anything in the drawers and such. Under her pillow, Heero found a red, lacy bra—one that was foreign to him. Were the maids (or other staff members) doing inappropriate things in the room? He held the bra out, dangling on his finger by a strap to show Relena.

"Look what I found under your pillow." He frowned as he saw what she was really doing on the computer. "You're not doing work; you could've helped me."

"I couldn't do it nearly as efficiently or as thoroughly as you," she said absentmindedly then added, "Since I have the scavenger hunt on vacation, this _is_ work. I'm sending a message to Noin. She'll send me a picture from Mars." She looked up and glanced at the bra. "So _that's_ where that one went." She snatched it and tossed it into her still open suitcase.

"I've never seen it before."

"I don't recall giving you an inventory of my attire, nor do I remember a time when I modeled each article of clothing."

"Do you know where I found it?"

"I believe you said on my bed."

"Under your pillow," he clarified.

"Okay, so you found it under my pillow." She stood and stuffed the bra into her suitcase.

When she did not give any explanation, he asked, "Well, how did it get there?"

"I don't believe that's your business."

"If you're seeing someone, I need to know."

"Are we jealous?"

"For security purposes," he said with a cough.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't believe you only want to know 'for security purposes.'"

"You're my responsibility. I take my job very seriously."

"I believe somewhere it says you're not supposed to sleep with who you're guarding."

"I can't have a relationship with you."

"Then you shouldn't mind if I see other people," she pointed out.

"You shouldn't see any man. It's too dangerous and takes away from work."

She rolled her eyes once more and tossed a pillow at him. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

"Going to pick your lover?" questioned Heero, whispering into her ear as they watched the senators on the floor, deciding which one would be lucky. 

"Shut up!" she hissed.

"You shouldn't see anyone without my clearance."

"I'm a big girl, and you're not my father!"

"No, I'm just your bodyguard, paid and expected to protect you."

"Oh? Am I just a job to you now, Heero Yuy? What about the flight over here? Did that not happen? What about last night? You can't just flick a switch where I'm just your employer one moment and your lover the next. I won't play this limbo game for long."

He gave her a severe look but said nothing else. They observed the male senators, silently picking a few possible candidates, indicating them with a nod of the head or a flick of the wrist. Finally, the session ended; Relena dashed onto the floor before Heero could even call out to her, and she vanished in the crowd just as quickly. He growled to himself and went after her. She was very good at evading him when she wanted to do so. He looked through the crowd and could not find her.

"Heero! Come on!" Relena said eventually, grabbing his arm from somewhere in the crowd and pulling him off to the side.

"You just ran away!" he accused her.

"I'm sorry," she said automatically. "I think I've found someone." He looked over and saw a very nervous senator. He appeared to be fresh out of his district. Heero could he was a junior one without even thinking; Relena probably had a list of the junior senators memorized.

"Think you could have picked one any greener?" he asked.

"What's going on?" the man asked apprehensively.

"He's a junior senator. That's all that's required," she defended.

"I suppose just anyone will do for you," he muttered. She slapped his arm. When he looked at her, he saw a grin on her face and became puzzled.

"You really shouldn't try jealousy. It doesn't look good on you."

He looked to the senator who looked just as confused. However, Heero also decided not to question this too much. Relena was being awfully moody, and he did not want her next mood to be against him.

"How do you want to do this?"

"There aren't many different ways _to_ do it," she said. "Let's just do it."

"You want to do it in front of so many witnesses?"

She shrugged. "It'll support the validity."

"What's going on?" questioned the senator.

"We just need you for one little thing," she assured.

"I'll be watching you. I saw you earlier."

"I still don't understand," the senator said. He saw Heero reach into his jacket. "I didn't hurt her! I swear!"

"This won't hurt a bit," Heero assured.

"Just make it quick," the congressman requested.

"Oh it will be." The senator closed his eyes tightly, missing the camera pulled out. Relena leaned in and kissed him. Off went a million flashes.

* * *

Day 1—Afternoon  
"Who did you piss off in another lifetime that made that customs agent feel the need to strip search us?" Dorothy griped as she and Quatre walked out the spaceport. 

"I doubt it's my fault," Quatre replied putting on his jacket. "Everyone knows Dorothy Catalonia as Duke Dermail's granddaughter, Treize Khushrenada's cousin, and notorious Romefeller member. I'd say it's a safe bet the colonies hate you."

"You're so comforting."

"I thought you were only comfortable with brutal honesty."

"Let's just get this over with. I didn't want you as a partner anyway."

"You picked me!"

"Only because Relena had Heero!"  
"You could have picked someone else—or just have gone alone."

"Yeah, well, shut up!"

"You're so witty."

They continued down the sidewalk. Looking at each store remotely looking like a café, they quickly realized they were looking at a string of chain cafés. Big business had bought out most if not all of the locally owned cafés.

"How are we supposed to find a small, private one?" Dorothy sighed.

"There has to be one here," reasoned Quatre. "Come on. Let's get out of the main touristy area. Surely there's at least one where the locals go. We'll find one." They walked down random streets, hoping to find where the locals shopped and ate. They finally escaped the crowds and wandered into empty avenues. Without tourists, the streets were clean and quiet. It seemed very much the pleasant small town, and one would never know it was crowded, dirty, and loud just a few streets over.

"See one where you want to go?" Quatre asked.

"Mm," she looked around the square. "Let's try Powdered Stars." Dorothy gestured to the baby blue building with white stars decorating its signs.

He nodded, and they entered the small café. It looked fairly busy for the time and day. They found an empty table for two and took it. Laminated menus were at each table, so they grabbed them, looking over it. It was a quaint place. Teas of many kinds were available as well as coffees. Different kinds of sweets were on the menu such as cookies, muffins, and hard candies. Dorothy mused it was probably made and run by a mother and her restless daughter.

"I really feel more like having iced coffee, but tea is on the list," she said.

"That's right." He smiled at her. He was going to enjoy these two weeks. He idly wondered how many more times they could get strip searched before Dorothy became suspicious.

"I'm just going to have some jasmine tea and a strawberry muffin," she decided.

"Hey! They have mini-muffins!" he exclaimed.

"We sure do," assured the waitress as she came up to the table. "Would you like some?"

"Maybe later," he said. "Where did you come up with the name for the café? Powdered Stars is quite unique."

The young waitress opened her mouth, but an older woman appeared behind the counter and answered first. "Oh, it's from my daughter, Etta." She smiled warmly at the waitress. "When she was a young girl, she'd help me make the pastries for different functions. We made some for a fundraiser at her school, and we had to make the pastries at the school, which had a black countertop. The powdered sugar got onto it, and she said it looked like the stars in the sky. When we looked at the observation deck afterward, she asked me if God sprinkled powdered sugar throughout the Universe to make the stars." The woman smiled at the young waitress yet again, and the younger woman groaned and rolled her head with her eyes.

"It's a cute story, very wonderful," Quatre praised.

"Not when you hear it for half your life," the waitress muttered to Quatre and Dorothy where only they could hear. She flashed them a smile and took down their orders before dashing back behind the counter.

Dorothy looked over at the small television giving news to the patrons. She pointed out the screen to Quatre as the reporter aired footage of the Vice Foreign Minster spontaneously kissing the junior senator from Iaşi. The couple shared a big smirk as the waitress returned with their orders, and Quatre ordered mini-muffins to-go.

"It would appear Miss Relena is already ahead of you," he teased.

"Not for long," she assured. "Let's take a picture right now. Take out your camera."

"My camera?"

"Yes, your camera. The thing to a picture with to prove we got here."

"I thought you were bringing it. This is your contest after all. I'm just here to make sure you don't cheat."

Dorothy shot him a severe look. "Neither of us have a camera? Well, we'll just have to get one." She scanned the café, ignoring his questions. She spotted a trio with a camera. She leaned over and tapped the man's shoulder. He turned, and his eyes widened slightly at the recognition. "Hello, sir. Do you know who we are?" He nodded. "Well, we require your camera. We're prepared to pay you five hundred credits for it. Please hand it over." The dumbfounded man automatically relinquished the possession. She flashed him a smile then turned to her companion.

"What model is that?" Quatre inquired. Upon hearing it, he replied, "Dorothy, pay him a thousand. Five hundred won't cover it."

"Why are you telling me? You're the one paying him."

"What? Me?"

"You're the one who should have brought a camera, so it's your fault we don't have one. Besides, I don't carry any form of money."

Quatre almost retorted but stopped himself. This was his vacation, and while he hated paying up, he was not going to get into a fight over it. He could get her back later. He paid the man and handed him a sheet of paper and a pen to get his information. He took a picture of Dorothy when the mini-muffins arrived. Having finished and paid for their food (well Quatre paid leaving a good tip), they stood and headed to the door. As they left the small café, the now camera-less trio thought they heard the couple say:

"You're going to pay me back."

"When we get back on Earth, I'll pay you for everything."

"You're going to pay when we get to our hotel…one way or another."

"For the last time, I'm not your personal hooker!"


End file.
